Bloodless malaria urine test launched to stall disease

A bloodless malaria diagnostics tool called Urine Malaria ‎Test (UMT) has been launched by Fyodor Biotechnology Corporation.
Speaking during the official unveiling of the malaria test kit in Lagos, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fyodor Biotechnology Corporation both USA and Nigeria, Dr Eddy Agbo  said the goal is to raise the standard of care in malaria diagnosis and treatment in the country.
He said UMT was informed by the primary need for prompt diagnosis of malaria especially in the private sector, adding that it is  designed to bridge the gap in controlling malaria  in Nigeria.
Agbo described the UMT test as one that requires no blood, no reagents and no equipment ‎to carry out the simple process of identifying whether a particular malaria illness is caused by fever or otherwise.
“History is being made today. This is 100 percent Nigerian made product aimed at simplifying the ‎process of identifying malaria. It means anybody, anywhere, can do this successfully. And if anything, the UMT will help us to understand that not all malaria are caused by fever and you do not need blood, reageant  nor any equipment to find this out,” Agbo said.
According to him, the firm partnered with the Federal Ministry of  Health in validating UMT to address the gap in national malaria control programme.
Also speaking, the VP Business Development and Project Fyodor, Dr Victoria Enwemadu said the process of carrying out a malaria confirmation with the aid of UMT is quite simplistic, saying all that is required is for the person concerned to get his or her urine in ‎a plain cup, dip the white end of the UMT strip into the urine sample and leave for 25 minutes.
“If the UMT strip after the period of observation has two identified stripes, then it can be said that the test is positive  but if the strip come with just an identified stripe, then it means the test is negative,” Enwemadu said.
She added that ‎Fyodor Biotechnologies Ltd‎ engaged in lots of partnership to get the product manufactured. She noted that the entire research and production exercise took up to eight years while clinical trial was carried out in Nigeria, and  over 2,000 participants were enrolled in primary health centres in three study group.‎
The Chairman and CEO, Geneith Pharmaceutical Limited, the marketing company for the product, Emmanuel Umenwa said appropriate diagnosis is critical in the treatment of malaria. He said not all fevers are due to Malaria and that is why right diagnosis is important.